Can I give more? The answer is usually yes

Aww Happy Birthday S!!!

Mind those hips, you're not getting any younger you know....have you found a physio or somewhere that does sports massage over there yet?

Am very jealous of your weight loss, I really need to get my act together but have zero motivation these days .

Monday 19.2.18

6.25 miles Easy@8.28min/miles in 52 min 58secs

First run in over a week that there was no hip pain while running, jaunt around Bosjes Van Poot and Westduinpark as per usual. Happy with no more pain!!

Tuesday 20.2.18

w/u, 8x800@10k off 400m rec, c/d

Having read AMK's log with interest regarding the choice of route for runs i decided to stay away from the flatness of Zuiderpark and headed to the running paths in the dunes in Westduinpark to do these. Not for one minute now am i saying that i'm as soft as a Dub!!! One of the calmer days i've experienced running in the dunes, target was 3.05-3.08 for the 800's. Nice handy warm up and into the reps straight away, i know by now the first one is going to be tough but of course it is when you run it at 5k pace :rolleyes:. But from here on in i got into the correct pace and enjoyed the rolling nature of the dunes doing this, felt the 400m recoveries were to generous but thats what the plan said so i was sticking to it, all were ran. Very enjoyable, tough session. 800m splits were:

3.00/3.05/3.05/3.06/3.04/3.04/3.02/3.04.

10 miles all in for the whole lot.

Wednesday 21.2.18

Rest Day.

Thursday 22.2.18

6.10 miles Easy@8.30min/miles in 51min 48secs

Usual at this stage jaunt around BVP and Westduinpark taking in a few of the bigger dunes to keep the legs honest, all feeling good.

Friday 23.2.18

15 miles Easy@8.08min/miles in 2hrs 2min 05secs

I ran the same route as last week for my long run with a bit extra added on as i seen something last week that i wanted to return and see, down through Zuiderpark and on into Park Overvoorde and Park Steenvoorde, the real feel as i headed out was -8 and felt worse at times in the harsh breeze that was blowing. Onto to Te Werve that houses De Put the lake that has a heated portion but there was nobody availing of it today, few laps of the lake and then onto Rijswijkse Bos that is the home of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_of_Rijswijk and used to be the location of the [URL]http:///en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huis_ter_Nieuwburg[/URL] which was the former home of [URL]http:///en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Henry,_Prince_of_Orange[/URL]. Amazing the history this city holds that is a run away from the front door. Run wise i felt great on this, really strong and enjoyed every step of it.

Saturday 24.2.18

6.35 miles Easy@8.38min/miles in 54min 51mins

Am sure who read here are bored reading another run around BVP and Westduinpark but thats what this was, its only half mile from my front door but its a joyous location to run.

Sunday 25.2.18

Nootdorp Ijs Club Dobbeloop 10km - 38min 47secs

I won't bore ye all with a big race report on this one, i knew weather was to be cold this weekend so didn't fancy running my session on my own in the freezing wind. Trawled internet and found this, few tram stops away thats styled some what on parkrun, ran on a monthly basis at cost of €2 for accurately measured route offering 5/10/15k options on a 5k loop around a lake, showers and tea/coffee after thats run by a speed skating club, hence they done well at the Winter Olympics using running to build strength and endurance.

Out about hour before race start and got my barings, Holland is flat, great for running flat routes, its defence when the wind blows the whole place is open to it. It wasn't a wind of a few weeks back in the 15km race but it would still impact my run. Checked the phone before going on my warm up, as i have said the real feel is what is regarded as a more accurate guide to temperture, it read -11, shorts it was. A two mile warm up, then bang and back to run and we were off, into running quickly and felt good, first mile and half was into the breeze but i coped well with it. Turned right and wind was helping here, passed afew other runners and plowed on. Right again along a canal where wind was hurting off the right some but again feeling good taking in scenery.

The Garmin was giving weird pace readings but recording distance correctly, so i started taking my paces roughly off time elasped, through 5k in 19.20 on target for sub 40 Ted :D:D. Well the second lap was the same as the first just more ffin to dig in this time, cursing as i hadn't written my kids names on my hand as i ALWAYS do before a race, its something i've done since we were blessed with both. Head down as i ran the last 800m or so into a wind that was nearly freezing the sweat on my brow (not joking :eek:). Over bridge and left to the finish where i was awarded my time of 38min 47secs. Over the moon, nearly kissed the two old dears as i handed them my time, a PB of 2mins 7secs on an course that measured 6.22miles on my watch.

Mile cool down and my day was done, 9.22 miles and a new 10k PB.

52.92 miles for the week and a 10km PB to boot, highest mileage in the plan and into taper from here for next two weeks. I'm delighted with the 10km PB, it wasn't a race granted but a timed run but it was solo more or less, i could have eased off like i would have in the past but if anything i dug in and ran harder when times got tough. One of the things i always wanted to achieve when i took up this running game was to run a sub 40 min 10k, done that today. Took fooking long enough though :D:D.

Well done! That's a great chunk off your pb for a 10k. The cold weather must suit you! I hear there's a great marathon in Antarctica!

OOnegative wrote: »

Thank you, I genuinely love running in cold weather, AGYR will vouch for that!!!

I will??! Well done!!! You never said a word about it! That's a big chunk off and well under the sub 40 - delighted of you B.

Highest mileage week in the plan and a substantial 10k PB to boot - impressive stuff. Congrats!

Congrats on the PB! That's great to have under the belt. Well done.

Super running mate, delighted for you.

Great stuff, Barry, congrats.

Big congrats B, that's a super result there, fair play to you

must be dutch fooker called Anto measurin courses over there

Wow that's a brilliant time. Well done Barry

Super to get a PB as well as do that mileage.
Hats off to you.

Belated congrats on the PB Bunny. Stop the lights :pac:

Monday 26.2.18

Rest

Tuesday 27.2.18

7.50 miles Easy@8.35min/mile in 64min 24secs

Legs feeling good and showed no ill effects from Sundays 10k effort. Usual jaunt around the trails of Bosjes Van Poot and Westduinpark. It was -12 real feel and felt every bit of it, a cutting wind blowing in off the North Sea. Nice run that was to be the last one of the week :eek::eek::eek:.

As stated above, rest of my week was wiped out as Mrs OO traveled home to Ireland and has been stuck there since and is not due in till tomorrow night. Its been really cold here all week reaching -20 real feel on a few occasions through the week. The eldest volunteered to go cycling with me yesterday to get a run in but it was much to cold to have him out in.

Thoughts on Yasson Plan:

One word ''tired'' comes to mind on my thoughts of the plan, i was/am more tired through this plan than i ever was training for a marathon. I think this is due to running my HMP sessions the day after my long run rather than the other way around like most other training plans, would i do that again? Probably not if i'm totally honest, i can feel the benefits from it no doubt as is shown from running more than a 2 minute 10k PB last week but as i said i felt very tired so many times heading out for a run.

I've ran near 400 miles over the 10 weeks which will stand to me next Sunday with 2x10, 11, 3x13 and 2x15 mile longer runs in that period so the legs are well use to the half distance at this stage. There have been plenty of quality sessions in that period also but the HMP stuff i found very tough mentally sometimes doing them on my own but i got through them all. The two tune up races were both 100% effort and on a calmer day i feel i could have been a minute or more quicker on the 15k. I can't do anymore at this stage, the hay is in the barn as they say, missing this week is not ideal but sometimes real life and other things get in the way of running. Till next week from here, vaarwel!!!